Stacking deep

A winter storm is forecast for tonight and tomorrow. Weatherman is guesstimating 6" of snow for my location; which means we get a dusting or dumped on. Either way I've been hauling in firewood so there is one less thing to think about. Inside stacks are full now but I might go for one more load that will stay in the bags until needed.

I went to the grain elevator this morning to stock up on chicken feed. Again, I'm the only person wearing a mask. The good news was the price of feed hasn't gone up yet. It's just a matter of time before it does though.

Clouds have moved in and my head is pounding, so some type of weather system has arrived. Stay safe and warm.

Cooper's Hawk

 Fortunately I have a large sparrow population if this fellow will be dropping in to dine.

Reading up on them, I don't expect any trouble with the chickens. This might be a predator, but not in the same weight class as my flock.

Yippee!

It's above 0°F. Of course, the wind chill is still in the minus range, but so much better than the -30s we've had. I knew it was going to be better when I saw Gru was back in his tree last night. He looks so funny when he roosts with the chickens. He has begun to sit in front of the little coop's pop door. I think he feels left out since he can't fit.

It would be nice to have warming up without sinus problems, though. Always a give and take.

Yuck

It's much too early to be up, but a headache won't let me get back to sleep. It's been a roller coaster ride weather wise. Up to 40F yesterday before the wind switched to the North and down went the temperature. The wind chill is running about -28F now which makes me not look forward to doing chores. I have to chuckle at the news site's weather which says it's raining here. Oh, really?

Last night Gru, the wild turkey, actually made a wise choice and decided to sleep with the chickens instead of his normal roost in a tree. He hates it when I see him inside the coop though. Silly bird.

I need to dislodge the cat from my lap now and poke the fire. Not burning properly.

Turkey Day!

 

As you can see, Gru is perfectly safe with his minions. It's very cold; bad enough that my fingers were hurting by the time I finished chores. I need to toughen up for winter.

Mildly interesting

I have an aquarium that is cycling, that means it has everything in it except the critters. Until the right bacteria get to work and clean the water any fish living there would have short, painful lives. Except bladder snails, the aquatic equivalent of cockroaches. Because there are more nutrients than the plants need, algae grows. Today I took a clump of hair algae and dropped it into my shrimp tank. They immediately swarmed all over it. Yum yum.

Today was the last of the Indian Summer weather. Here comes cold and wet. It feels like a good time to make zucchini bread. :)

Ooooh, is this fall?

I think we've had more rain in the last two weeks than we did all summer; right on time for the farmers to be in the fields for harvest. Oddly, even though I live just four miles from my parents, they didn't get the last three rainfalls that I did. I had an extra load of wood delivered which I'll stack outside to season for next year. It's a nice feeling to be ready for winter. 

I harvested the rest of my apples. So much yummier than store-bought. Hmmm, maybe from the dirty aquarium water I poured under the tree all summer? This tree is seven years old and bearing nicely. Yay, honeycrisps!

My basement is the catch-all for stuff in my house; like when I got new electronic equipment and wanted to hang onto the box in case of problems. Now I want to do a bit of decluttering so those boxes are getting cleared out along with odds and ends. I've reached a stage where things I held onto in case they came in handy, I now realize I am unlikely to ever use.

A couple days ago I tried on a size smaller t-shirt. Hooray! It fit. I keep all my smaller clothes so going down a size is like getting a whole new wardrobe (for free). One thing I've learned this time is not to get overconfident so I will be holding onto my bigger clothes just in case life ambushes me.